Small Things Count

Autumn began a few days ago. It’s a beautiful season, with tree-leaves turning bright colors then falling to the ground to carpet your yard. The problem is, bugs thrive and multiply in fallen leaves. You’ll want to control them. Instead of using chemicals to do that, try this: 1) keep leaves raked up from your yard, and 2) trim bushes so their lower branches don’t touch the ground.

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. For a description of the book go to My Free Books).

Here’s a bit of Americana for the card players out there: the origin of the term “pass the buck,” meaning, of course, to avoid responsibility by giving it to someone else.

In the second half of the 1800s, poker became a very popular game.  However, distrust was high, everyone assuming that everyone else was cheating, especially the dealer.  This led to many a gunfight and bloody messes to clean up.  The solution was to take turns dealing, passing the job on to the next person seated at the table.  Whoever was dealing was given a marker to indicate that he was the dealer.  Usually, this was a knife, which, in those days, often had handles carved out of a buck’s horn.  Therefore, when it was your turn to deal, someone would “pass the buck” to you.  Later, by the way, the knife was replaced by a silver dollar, which may be the derivation of the term “buck” for a dollar.

Another bit of trivia that you probably can’t work into any conversation……..

More police?  I keep hearing that cities are scrambling to increase the size of their police forces.  I agree that it’s important to have people to keep us safe from muggers, break-ins, shootings, gangs, rapes, and all the other terrible crimes being perpetrated.  However, I can’t help wondering if a better approach might be to worry as much about solving the root cause of most crimes–poverty–as we do about increasing our police forces.  Definitely, spending the time, money, and resources up front, to alleviate poverty in our cities, would lessen the need for people to protect us.  That approach seems like a win-win situation to me.

I tried a whole bunch of times and continued to fail.  I cut off heads or inserted a thumb.  I grimaced at the wrong time or squinted when I shouldn’t have.  I memorialized people behind me, catching them doing things they didn’t want people to see them doing.  I turned the whole landscape into a blinding flash.  Finally, I admitted my limitations and handed my cell phone over to a stranger to take a picture of my family and me on our outing to the beach.

I admit it.  I’m a selfie failure.  But, happily, my family loves me in spite of my shortcomings.

“When you take out a loan you should pay it back like everybody else has to.” Set aside for a moment whether or not student loan forgiveness is fair or right, as in this comment. Go a step further and view the hypocrisy of many high-profile and/or affluent people who are shouting that comment from the top suite of a corporation, people whose businesses received loans to help them during the worst of Covid and then had those loans forgiven. It seems to me that they believe that struggling students are less deserving than businesses. Or maybe they just want to maintain the growing gap between the Haves and Have-Nots.

Kids outgrow last year’s sneakers?  Shop for new ones that use recycled rubber, hemp, eco-suede, organic cotton, sustainable rayon made from bamboo shell and lining, and water-based glue.  And the old, grungy sneakers?  Let Nike turn them into material to surface running tracks and basketball courts (take them to a Nike Outlet).

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/ view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. Or download a free copy from your favorite e-tailer.]

Today’s Thursday Thought quote could lead to an attitude adjustment in many people.

Pardon the repeat posting of several weeks ago, but since then I’ve become aware of how few people have heard about this. Because this is the start of National Mental Health Awareness Week, I though it bears repeating.

In 2020, Congress started a new number to help people experiencing a mental health crisis. It’s part of the already-existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline but is easier and quicker to access.

If you yourself or someone close to you is having a mental health crisis, call or text 988.

Experiencing my husband’s long illness and death reminded me of the importance of the human touch.  His fingers grazing mine when he needed something from the bedside table he couldn’t reach.  His smile as I rubbed his feet while we talked, with me doing most of the talking.  Mutual reassurance at 3 A.M. when I’d hear irregular breathing, lay a hand on his chest, and feel the pattern change to calmness.  That little current flowing between us as we held hands for our morning prayers, even after the actual words came only through my lips. Hugs of family and friends that brought healing tears and pushed away fears.  And all their cheek-kisses, back caresses, adjusting wayward strands of our hair, finger massages, and quiet hand-holding for both of us and for each other.

People ask, “Is there’s anything I can do?”  They don’t realize that their caring touch brought him and me so much comfort and encouragement.  I’m convinced that we’ve been given a body so we can minister to each other through the grace of a simple human touch.

This struck my funny and serious bones simultaneously. Here’s my Thursday Thought for today: